Touring is getting tougher and more expensive, so Sarah Lipstate A/K/A Noveller pulled a “Honey I Shrunk The Pedal Board” for her European tour. She was kind enough to steal a moment from packing to give us the rundown. You can read about her original sized rig and see a video of it here. If you are anywhere near these shows, you can hear her make uniquely beautiful music with her new pedals.

Over three decades, Knox Chandler’s career has including performing, recording, arranging and producing, with REM, Depeche Mode, Grace Jones, Marianne Faithful, Natalie Merchant, The Creatures, The Golden Palominos, as well as stints as a member of The Psychedelic Furs, Siouxsie and the Banshees and Cyndi Lauper‘s band. His most recent venture is the creation of his sound ribbons/tonepoems. These are real-time musical soundscapes created through iPad and computer manipulations that process and iterate the electric guitar. They are improvisations composed on the spot, using no pre-recorded audio or sequencing.

Ian Smit is a self-avowed David Torn fan. But Torn is just a jumping off point for him. You can check out his solo excursions at his cleverly named YouTube site, Racketlauncher. He also plays with an interesting seven-piece band named Monkeyworks around the New Jersey/Pennsylvania border. For his Reader’s Rig contribution, he goes into detail about his elaborate system and offers some sage advice about gear.

This year marked the first year NAMM’s summer display of goodies for guitarists (and other musicians) was housed in Nashville’s new Music City Center. It will also go down in SNAMM history as the “The Pedal Show”—it seemed like every other booth housed a plethora of effects pedals for guitar!